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Sol: Spurs don’t have enough winners to be champions

Sol Campbell expects Tottenham to fall short in the Premier League title race as he believes they lack “winners” in their squad.

Spurs moved above north London rivals Arsenal into third place following an impressive 3-0 win at Norwich on Tuesday night.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men have lost just once in the last eight league games, and sit five points behind surprise leaders Leicester heading into the weekend’s fixtures.

Such consistent form has seen genuine hope emerge around White Hart Lane that the current crop of Spurs talent can deliver what would be a first championship since the double-winning side of 1960/1961.

Campbell made more than 300 Tottenham appearances before a controversial free transfer move to Arsenal in the summer of 2001, going on to win the Premier League twice.

And the former England centre-half is not so sure this Spurs side can last the distance through to May.

“Tottenham have been very impressive of late, but I think the same can be said of Spurs as that of Leicester – experience under pressure could be key to success,” Campbell said in his latest Sportslobster blog.

“The last eight to 10 games of the season are when you really find out who you are as a player, team and a club as a whole.

“At the moment they are going along fantastically well and you have to say they have given themselves a chance of winning the Premier League, but they don’t have a lot of winners in their team.

“By that I mean they don’t have players who have experienced success in a league of this quality.

“They are a young side with a lot of talent, but they might lack a player who has ‘been there, done that’, the sort of player who will keep everyone calm, focused and believing that anything is possible.

“Leicester are in the same position – as a club they have entered unknown territory and it’s going to be brilliant to see if either club can hold their nerve and produce a real challenge right to the end of the season.”

Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli is one player to have impressed after being handed a first-team chance by Pochettino.

The 19-year-old has been fast-tracked into the senior England squad ahead of Euro 2016, but Campbell claims Alli still has a lot to prove.

“He does look a real prospect, but it is very early stages for him,” said Campbell, 41, who represented the Three Lions at three World Cup finals from 1998 to 2006.

“I don’t really want to know about a player until five or six years down the line and I can see their consistency. Anyone can have a good season or two – I want to see five, 10, 15 years of quality from a player to be able to call him ‘world class’.

“We have seen players light up this league before for two or three years and then drop off and fade away. I am not saying Dele Alli will do that, but he needs to keep going.

“Hopefully he has a good mentality that will allow him to have the same sort of career (Steven) Gerrard and (Frank) Lampard enjoyed in the Premier League. It would, of course, be great for England if he could.”